Jump to content

METRORail Daily Ridership Up To 60,600


ehtx1

Recommended Posts

Metro Rail Ridership is now at 60,600 a day.  Who says rail doesn't work in Houston.  I believe rail ridership can be over 100,000 thousand if the University line, Uptown line, and Inner Katy line was built, maybe even more than that.  Plus I definitely see opportunity for smaller extensions of light rail for instance : North Shepherd to Heights, Oak Forest, and Garden Oaks.  Market Street East to Denver Harbor and Jacinto City, Galena Park.  Up Hirsch Street to Fifth Ward, Kashmere Gardens, Trinity Gardens.  Inner Katy can extend into Spring Branch/Kempwood & Blalock.  Extend down Scott Street to Sunnyside and South Acres.  Southwest side from Hillcroft Transit Center to Westbury.  Extend to Hobby Airport too.  Mobility can work in Houston.  We are going to have to do something because all of our freeways are congested and we can't keep expanding them.  We need another option to get around the city and that is RAIL !

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Oh it'd definitely be over 100,000 if just the voter approved University and Uptown lines were built.  Hell, maybe even just the University Line. 

 

Houston would get much better results if it went with grade separated heavy rail over a broader area as opposed to concentrated light rail, but that ship has long sailed I guess. It is unfortunate that Metro seemingly has no interest in rail expansion even though they owe the voters two more rail lines. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

11 hours ago, mfastx said:

Oh it'd definitely be over 100,000 if just the voter approved University and Uptown lines were built.  Hell, maybe even just the University Line. 

 

Houston would get much better results if it went with grade separated heavy rail over a broader area as opposed to concentrated light rail, but that ship has long sailed I guess. It is unfortunate that Metro seemingly has no interest in rail expansion even though they owe the voters two more rail lines. 

They keep teasing that they'll build commuter rail, but it never happens. I think any future highway expansions should have to include right of way for rail to receive funding. We've already got some of the widest freeways in the world.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

52 minutes ago, Sunstar said:

They keep teasing that they'll build commuter rail, but it never happens. I think any future highway expansions should have to include right of way for rail to receive funding. We've already got some of the widest freeways in the world.

 

Commuter rail is different than what I referenced, and I think it would be a good idea, but it'd take a lot longer to see the returns on that than rapid transit heavy rail.  METRO has already have spent so much on the HOV network, I wonder if they should try to improve that service somehow. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I think the original Red Line is still the best and most effective route because of the sheer number of destinations it hits, and it's viability for people that don't live in the Loop. Parking around the Museum District usually gets pretty clogged on weekends, especially if there's an event at Hermann Park. Rather than circling around for an hour, it's easier to pay a small fee at the Fannin P&R for guaranteed parking then ride the train north.

 

There's still a lot of untapped potential for light rail even before "true" commuter rail appears (though "hybrid" light rail would be nice too...although there's probably diminishing returns at that point).

Link to comment
Share on other sites

13 hours ago, mfastx said:

Oh it'd definitely be over 100,000 if just the voter approved University and Uptown lines were built.  Hell, maybe even just the University Line. 

 

Houston would get much better results if it went with grade separated heavy rail over a broader area as opposed to concentrated light rail, but that ship has long sailed I guess. It is unfortunate that Metro seemingly has no interest in rail expansion even though they owe the voters two more rail lines. 

 

http://www.chron.com/news/transportation/article/University-Line-federal-funding-pledge-pulled-7846885.php

 

Quote

A contentious light rail project along Richmond Avenue in Houston that’s been dormant for nearly a decade is no longer eligible for federal funding, Congressman John Culberson, R-Houston, said Friday morning.

...

In a letter released by Culberson’s office, Federal Transit Administration associate administrator Lucy Garliauskas said federal money is no longer available on the Richmond project “due to inactivity and lack of demonstrated progress on the project’s design and local financial commitment over the last several years.”

I don't see that line happening soon.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

8 minutes ago, cspwal said:

He's the one that blocked any progress on it for so long!  And what about that agreement that he and Metro came to last year??

 

It mentions that at the end of the story.

 

Quote

The decision isn’t the end of the line for light rail on Richmond, however. Culberson and Metro officials last year came to agreement that any further rail development using federal funds in the region will go back to the voters. If Metro receives approval and the local money needed, transit officials could go back to Washington looking for funding.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm sure Culberson is proud he saved tax payers all that federal money that would have been spent in Houston.  I'm not a fan of wasteful federal spending but damn I thought politicians usually fogught for federal funds for their district.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

It's insane. 

 

Although not nearly as bad as turning down $100 billion in federal funding cuz we gonna show Obama who is boss and not insure poor people through the expansion of medicaid. Meanwhile, Texas hospitals pay on average $5.5 billion annually to cover uninsured patients and Texas residents and businesses have to make up those costs with higher insurance costs and taxes. We have the second highest insurance costs in the nation; trailing only Florida, another non-Medicaid expansion state that people literally move to in order to die. 

 

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

15 minutes ago, KinkaidAlum said:

We have the second highest insurance costs in the nation; trailing only Florida, another non-Medicaid expansion state ......

 

 

 

Can you provide me a link to this?  I have heard similar statements before and when I search the net, I find that Texas (for both obamacare exchange plans and individual market plans) are generally "in the middle of the pack".  I am either finding flawed data or I am searching for the wrong thing.  Link?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

20 hours ago, mfastx said:

Oh it'd definitely be over 100,000 if just the voter approved University and Uptown lines were built.  Hell, maybe even just the University Line. 

 

Houston would get much better results if it went with grade separated heavy rail over a broader area as opposed to concentrated light rail, but that ship has long sailed I guess. It is unfortunate that Metro seemingly has no interest in rail expansion even though they owe the voters two more rail lines. 

The 2003 referendum promised a lot that's undelivered (it included new bus routes, total coverage, and a lot more stuff). A good description, attributed to METRO board member Carol Lewis, would be that it's “a plan, not a commitment.”

 

I wrote a whole bit on this when I was engaging in battles with Slick on a near-regular basis. Probably not the best use of time in retrospect, but I learned a lot about mass transit in Houston during the process.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Working Texans spend 12.3% of their income on health care expenses. Only Florida is higher at 12.4% according to a 2013 study. I can't seem to link on this new HAIF format but if you google it, a large Dallas Morning News article pops up as well as an NPR report citing the study and overall costs about a 2013 study on how much the average insured worker spends on health care insurance coverage. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 hours ago, KinkaidAlum said:

Working Texans spend 12.3% of their income on health care expenses. Only Florida is higher at 12.4% according to a 2013 study. I can't seem to link on this new HAIF format but if you google it, a large Dallas Morning News article pops up as well as an NPR report citing the study and overall costs about a 2013 study on how much the average insured worker spends on health care insurance coverage. 

Ok, I will google this and do my homework.  Thank you.  But, 2013 data?  That would be before Obamacare, right?  So all the " lack of Medicare expansio in Texas" issues you mentioned may or may not have impacted these numbers, right?  Is there no study more recent?  

 

Let me read the article but how can data from 2013 draw conclusions on costs for Texans post-obamacare regardless or Medicare expansion)?

 

I will google the article and try to educate myself on this.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Ok, here is the article:

 

http://www.dallasnews.com/business/headlines/20150107-texas-workers-health-insurance-costs-near-highest-in-nation.ece

 

it has absolutely nothing to do with obamacare or Medicare expansion or taxes generally.  Unless I am missing something, it doesn't support your original post at all,  It is really an article on data from 2003 to 2013 and discusses employer provided healthcare more than anything else.  

 

I would love love to see data on how the lack of Medicare expansion is causing Texans, in a post-obamacare world, to pay more in healthcare premiums and taxes (your original thesis) but, this is not it.  What data supports your thesis?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

This has been one big, colossal mess due to one's side incompetence and one's side stubbornness. What matters most is how the system is implemented and fits, while we instead focus on piecemeal solutions with no real overall goal. 

 

In an alternate reality where competence reins supreme and jurisdictions cooperate, METRO would go along with the ReImagined bus service after building the Main St line. Next you only build the University and Uptown Lines. Lastly you greatly expand parking ride. Boom system. 

 

You have light rail backbone with the weekday job/student potential in the hundreds of thousands (Uptown, Greenway Plaza, TMC, Downtown, Rice, UH, TSU, UHD, HCC, etc) and has major events/attractions potential in Herman Park, Buffalo Bayou, Museum District, and pro sports stadiums/arenas. The light rail is fed by the higher frequency bus service and commuter bus. 

 

I'm not a big fan of commuter rail for cities' like Houston but connecting UTMB Galveston to TAMU should be our main commuter solution outside if P&R. But I think my alternate reality solution would be a great system to build upon. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The Affordable Healthcare Act was signed into law in 2010. Not sure why 2013 numbers wouldn't reflect that.

 

This really isn't hard. Texas is turning down $100 billion over the next decade because we opted out of expanding medicaid coverage. That means we will have more uninsured than any other state. The uninsured don't opt out of healthcare services and hospitals can't simply turn their backs on the poor. Someone has to pay. Guess who pays? Working/insured Texans. We have to make up the difference. 

 

http://www.cnbc.com/2015/05/29/texas-pays-a-big-price-for-saying-no-to-medicaid-expansion.html

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

23 hours ago, IronTiger said:

The 2003 referendum promised a lot that's undelivered (it included new bus routes, total coverage, and a lot more stuff). A good description, attributed to METRO board member Carol Lewis, would be that it's “a plan, not a commitment.”

 

I wrote a whole bit on this when I was engaging in battles with Slick on a near-regular basis. Probably not the best use of time in retrospect, but I learned a lot about mass transit in Houston during the process.

 

True, but Houstonians did approve those lines, so if the plans change, at least give them a chance to vote on those change of plans.  Personally I don't see the point in referendums, but Houston has already gone that route.  

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 5/20/2016 at 6:21 PM, IronTiger said:

 it's “a plan, not a commitment.”

 

The plan was approved by the voters.

 

Personally, I think it doesn't matter, put more light rail on the next ballot, it will be approved. How many times would it need to be approved before national representatives for the west side of town respect the decision that the majority of the city residents make?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

16 hours ago, samagon said:

 

The plan was approved by the voters.

 

Personally, I think it doesn't matter, put more light rail on the next ballot, it will be approved. How many times would it need to be approved before national representatives for the west side of town respect the decision that the majority of the city residents make?

 

That, as always, depends on who's buttering their bread.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • The title was changed to METRORail Daily Ridership Up To 60,600

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

×
×
  • Create New...